The bloated corpses of her two friends amidst the early stages of decomposition was not a sight even her hardened eyes were prepared for. Yellow mottled skin where the blood had gravitated and pooled towards the bed, the blistering late summer heat almost cooking the pungency of the spilled bodily fluids. It was sickening...
Even breathing felt hard and heavy as her stomach continued to twist violently causing her to wretch and heave. Trembling fingers slowly moving away from clasp they had over her suddenly dry lips as she stared wide eyed. She had to get out of there.
Her skin turned sickly grey as she shoved her weight passed Becky, her suddenly numb legs missioning towards the front door as fast as they would allow whilst her eyes began to gloss over.
Tess only managed as far as the front porch before her limbs crumbled beneath her, her rear hitting the top step as her head fell in between her knees with a grief stricken sniff. The heels of her palms grinding into her eyes to remove any evidence of the tears that threatened to spill, "Shit..."
This world was a funny old place. It would rip all that you love away from you and leave you painfully alone. It would steal away every sliver of warmth and sanity you had and leave behind a void so heartless and bitter... but then, then it would throw you a line with a lure. A line that would seemingly lead you back into the light and the world would allow you to get so close... oh so close, just millimetres from grasp before tearing it all away again. A cruel prank. That's what Joel, Bill and Frank were... maybe even Ellie, that tempting lure, a glimmer of hope that lead to something that appeared to be the light- a way out of the QZ and a cure. Now Bill was gone... as was Frank... Joel was nowhere to be found and as for the kid? Well, fuck knows... depends on what sort of mood Joel was in. All of this because she she followed the thread of temptation that could have lead to her freedom and those divine higher beings saw and they laughed, taking it all away from her in one. So once again, here she was sat on the top step alone looking down, not only at the image of her six years olds contorted body but also Bill and Frank, all bloated and yellow. Her putrid imagination not satiated by the dire hallucination it had already concocted, made a subconscious decision to take it one step further. The image of Joel sat next to them, thick crimson dripping from his mouth, ears and eyes whilst the bloodied lifeless body of Ellie, covered in tendrils and blooms laid still at his feet with a bullet hole to the head.
One sharp breath sucked in after another as she willed the frightful images out of her mind, out of her vision. Her eyes squeezed so tightly shut that the surrounding skin creased, her body rocking as she clasped her hands around her head. Anything and everything to ground herself.
The taunting visions slowly fading as new more sorrowful memories came into play. Her breathing settling as she transported her self back to the first time she heard Franks voice over the radio... Joel's reluctancy to meet them in their home territory... That first meal they shared, the first fresh food consumed in what felt like years... The friendships formed....The nights spent in the guest house and those rare moments where Joel would allow his guard down, giving her a small glimpse of the man he used to be- this being the only place where he would allow those walls to temporarily crumble...
She hadn't even noticed the tears that had silently begun to roll, not until she lifted her head and the slight breeze hit fresh across her cheeks. That cursed tacky wetness becoming suddenly apparent... that vulnerability, the vulnerability that she had spent the last twenty years scrambling away from. They were swiped instantly as she sniffled back the remaining emotion. Her attention being caught by a crumpled sheet of paper, fluttering in the corner of her eye.
Tess shifted and snatched it from the breeze, flattening it the best she could before allowing her eyes to scan over the words scribbled down:
August 29, 2023. If you find this, please do not come into the bedroom. We left the windows open so that the house wouldn't smell, but it will probably be a sight.
YOU ARE READING
The Bullet / Tess Servopoulos
Fanfiction"Save who you can save" She had been responsible for the deaths of many over the last two decades-more than she could count. Some deserved it... others did not. In a twisted turn of events she finds herself potentially harbouring the cure for humani...
